Kirby: A performing arts center's time has come for this community

Bill Kirby Jr. Staff writer @wbkirbyjr

Thursday

Aug 22, 2019 at 5:16 PMAug 22, 2019 at 5:17 PM

Our Cumberland County commissioners Jeannette Council, Marshall Faircloth, Larry Lancaster, Glenn Adams, Jimmy Keefe, Michael Boose and Charles Evans, you may know by now, gave the green light to around $4.6 million for capital improvements at the Crown Coliseum.

“Investment in capital projects at the Crown Complex made by the board of commissioners proves Cumberland County is committed to providing first class entertainment facilities for its citizens as well as those in surrounding communities,” Jeffery Brown, director of engineering and infrastructure for the county, says in a news release. “It is always exciting when the county’s engineering and infrastructure department takes an integral role in making a significant difference in the community.”

No disagreement there.

The county will spend $3,204,565 from local food and beverages taxes for replacement of an end-of-life ice system for its ice floor in the coliseum that serves the Fayetteville Marksmen hockey team and other events requiring a frozen surface, i.e. Disney on Ice. And the county will spend $1,371,558 for resurfacing of the Agri-Expo parking lot, replete with pavement markings and new sidewalks.

The new ice system, according to the county, will give 20 years of efficient ice-making capability that will include an environmentally friendly refrigerant. And when you have a parking lot in need of an upgrade, you do what you have to do.

But you may be wondering why commissioners seemed to ignore the Crown Theatre, where a number of the seats are in dire need of replacement or at least of being refurbished.

“Part of the discussion on the performing arts center was to not include the theater and the arena in the capital improvement plan,” Keefe says. ”At the time we were discussing it, the performing arts center was voted on by the board of commissioners and we were proceeding with the RFP for consultants.”

If you don't know what an RFP is, it is a request for proposal to upgrade the theater or come up with a plan to build a performing arts center, perhaps downtown or perhaps just rebuild a new theater along U.S. Business 301.

So far, it all has been a lot of talk.

But back to those theater seats that need repair or replacement. Not all, but some. And some is some too many.

“The issue with the seats was that they were so old,” Keefe says, “that 'like' replacements were not available.”

Truth is, commissioners just are not planning to put money into the 51-year-old theater, certainly not after the Civic Center Commission recommended in September that the Crown Theatre needs to be replaced, and the county is awaiting a feasibility study to proceed with any plans for the future.

“It's an ADA issue, as I understand,” says Keefe, referencing the Americans with Disabilities Act. “To retrofit it to the current standards would be tens of of millions of dollars. The initial thought process was not to invest millions of taxpayer funds into a facility that would be closing in a few years because we were building a new performing arts center. Or spend millions of dollars renovating the facility that would not give us more capability to have more shows.”

The bottom line, as I understand, is either bring the old theater up to speed and in compliance with ADA mandates by 2022 or else — close it down.

A 2015 report on the theater made it clear that the facility has issues to include an undersized stage and lobby, old equipment, poor floor-runner lighting in the balcony that creates an issue for patrons to climb, no handrails, the need for a new fire sprinkler system and the need for new seating with more chairs for handicapped persons to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990.

"We've already been looking at how to connect arts and entertainment venues and what will be done when the Crown Theatre reaches the end of its life," former city mayor Tony Chavonne was saying in 2018, when he was president of the Cool Spring Downtown District that is playing a role in the renaissance of arts and entertainment for the center-city.

Here's the bottom line.

The county should do what it can to upgrade any theater seats in need of repair. It's only fair to patrons who still support theater concerts, theatrical plays and other events, and likely will over the ensuing 2 1/2 years. But above all, build a performing arts center, commissioners, or play a part in it with others. This community, some of us believe, will be the better for it, and we won't have to worry about those shabby seats anytime soon.

Columnist Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at bkirby@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3571.

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